Problems importing into Iphoto 5

All of the sudden I am getting an unrecognizable file error when I try to import photos into iphoto 5. I have tried 2 different cards using both the card reader and the usb cord plugged into the camera. I uploaded photos last week and as far as I know nothing on my computer has changed. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks

You get an "unrecognizable file error" if there is some file on your card that is not a valid image file - either it's corrupt or it's just something completely different.
You should try to reformat your card in the camera and see if the problem persists.
Of course:
Don't forget to backup your pictures from the card before you reformat the card/___sbsstatic___/migration-images/migration-img-not-avail.png
Since you can drag them to the desktop you can import them to iPhoto from there until you solved the problem

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Problem Importing into iPhoto 11 Events after Photostream

Before Photostream, importing my photos into iPhoto worked fine for me. By USB cable from my iPhone or camera, I imported and elected to import all of them. They showed up under "Last Import", but I also had the option (I forget now the procedures I followed) to sort this Last Import into one or more existing or new Events that I could name.
I don't know if Photostream has caused the problem, but now after I follow the prior procedure and have a "Last Import" (which does show thumbnails of all the photos), I can't find out to create the actual Events into which I want to place these photos. If I go to Photosteam, this does not help. If I go to the automatically created, say, "Dec 2011 Photosteam" event folder, I can (painstakingly) create one or more events into which to sort the pictures in that folder--but at this point I lose many of the photos from that folder. However, they are still in the main Photostream folder and in "Last Import".
If I go to "Events" in the source column at the left, I do not see the new pictures (they are only in Last Import, in Photostream, and, sometimes, in the most recent monthly folder automatically created for Photostream). If I go to the Events dropdown menu, the selections (such as Create Event) are grayed out--irrespective of whether I have Selected All or selected any of the photos in the Last Import or Photosteam folder. Thus, I can't get hold of the new pictures to put them into the events that I want.
How do I break apart the individual photos like I used to be able to do, so that I end up with photos divided into existing or newly created events?
Has anyone run into this problem? Is anyone doing the same tasks without having any problem of this nature? Anyone have a solution?

Okay, I think I've answered my own question, based on my looking further at other questions and answers in this forum. I needed to control-click on one of the photos in my Photos or Last Import folders and select "Show Event" from the contextual menu at the bottom of the pop-up window. This directed me way up in my library to near the beginning--instead of at the end (latest date) where I expected to find the event. I then need to go to the View menu, then down to Sort Events, and then click to Sort By Date (I don't know how this had become un-selected.)
Once I was able to find the photos, I was able to follow my old procedures to continue creating events and sorting photos--all without needing to go into Photostream (since I had uploaded into iPhoto the photos I wanted to sort by USB cable from my camera and my iPhone).

I have Iphoto '09, version 8.1.2 (424). I am having an identical problem. All my pictures are imported into Iphoto when I downloaded them from my camera. Until recently, I thought that the pictures were actually saved in the library. Since I need to cr

I have Iphoto '09, version 8.1.2 (424). I am having an identical problem. All my pictures are imported into Iphoto when I downloaded them from my camera. Until recently, I thought that the pictures were actually saved in the library. Since I need to crop my pictures for the web, and Iphoto doesn't do that, I purchased Photoshop Elements to do that. To my surprise, when I try to get a picture from Iphoto to Photoshop, it can't be done. That was when I realized, after wasting a lot of time, that the photos are not in the Iphoto library.
I started naming the pictures on Iphoto so I had a recognizable file name to open on Photoshop. Couldn't find it. I looked in the Backup folder and the Transfer software folder (I have a Nikon camera), and the names I entered in the Iphoto display, could not be found.
When I am trying to upload a photo to the web, I get the Finder folder showing with an active folder called "Photos" under "Media", which only displays Iphoto and PhotoBooth. This is a folder name that I cannot find in my HD anywhere when I look for it. If I edit a picture with Photoshop, I am not going to save it back to Iphoto (not sure whether it will work properly). How do I get my folder of edited photos to show when I want to upload a picture to the web?
Where (the name of the folder) do I find the pictures I see displayed on the Iphoto library, including any name changes, keywords added, and so on?

See my response to your other post.

Converting TIFF to JPEG with sips, then import into iPhoto problems

I am cataloguing a box of slides and negatives for my family. The scanner generates huge TIFF files (on purpose), and I have an Applescript that then uses sips to copy them into low quality JPEG files using this command:
do shell script ("sips -s format jpeg -s formatOptions low -s description " & "'" & "Original path: " & (POSIX path of an_image) & "'" & space & (POSIX path of an_image) & " --out " & new_file)
where an_image is the source file, and new_file is the path and name of the converted image.
This way, I can save the original file path as the image's description while shrinking the file size to speed up later importing into iPhoto. As part of the iPhoto import, that description from the metadata is placed in the on screen comment section for each image.
This works fine to do the initial shrinking, but less than half of the resulting jpeg files can subsequently be imported into iPhoto. I get this error:
The following file could not be imported. (The file is in an unrecognizable format.)
And yet, Preview and Safari both open the files with no problems.
Is there anything else I need to set when doing the conversion with sips to make it easier for iPhoto to recognize the converted files?
I have over 1000 images, and anticipate a final total of about 2500 when I am done. These are images of myself and my siblings from the 1960s and 1970s, and my idea is to scan them all at high resolution, and use the converted, smaller files for iPhoto for keywording and Faces to get them organized, while retaining the paths to the original images. Any commentary is appreciated.

I have uploaded one of the bad JPG files here:
www.mrcodeboy.com/smith/Try.jpg
I tried examining the metadata with exiftool, Image Events, and mdls, but there are a number of differences between the TIFF metadata and the JPEG metadata structures. I found no obvious differences, but this is a good idea, and I will continue to examine those closely for clues.
*EDIT*
I downloaded the bad JPEG above onto a different machine; it still does not import into iPhoto. However, by invoking sips on that file to convert it back to a TIFF file thusly:
sips -s format tiff Try.jpg --out TryTF.tif
it imported just fine. There has to be some sort of parameter that is NOT being addressed in the conversion from TIFF to JPEG that is somehow messing this up, yet is preserved when the file is re-written as a TIFF.
Message was edited by: casdvm

After import into iPhoto, originals disappear and only thumbnails remain

After importing photos into iPhoto, working on them and then closing iPhoto, when reopening iPhoto only the thumbnails remain and can't find the originals anywhere on the computer via a Spotlight. Ran Disk Utility and no problems found on HD. Have rebuilt the iPhoto Library. This has happened on multiple occasions.

Here's a little more background on this problem. JPGs originally were imported from a CD and had camera given filenames, like 20110428-DSC_0118.jpg. After the import into iPhoto the application was closed. The next day when iPhoto was opened and any of the just imported photos doubled click on, a dialog box similar to this appeared that changed with the different file names:
I did a little research and discovered that the camera that had given filenames were identical to those by a different group of photos from a different camera that already resided in the iPhoto Library! So I imported them again from the CD except this time I used the utility, Better Finder Renamer 8, to batch change the names to something completely different, like Mary_Spring_2011_Visit_001.jpg, and so on. Those were imported into iPhoto. iPhoto was closed and opened and everything was OK. The next day iPhoto was opened and the newly imported photos when double clicked, the same exact dialog box as above opened and the only newly named photos that could be found were the thumbnails. None of the original full-res images can be found doing a Spotlight search of the entire computer. So to answer your second question the same dialog box shows up. I'm confounded as to where they are going. Plus, why would the original filename that was changed be showing up in the dialog box?? That is why Disk Utility was run to see if there was any directory damage. But no problems were found.

Not all videos will import into iphoto...

hi,
i cannot get all my videos to import into iphoto 09. the process stops with an error "there was an error importing Photo".
what is causing this and is there a workaround?
please advise.
thank you.

hi,
ty, i will give your suggestion a try.
also, i solved the problem by resetting the phone. hold down the sleep-switch and home button together for 10sec and then when you get the quit screen keep holding down the two buttons together.
this also solved the problem..

IPhone sometimes won't delete all the photos after I import into iPhoto

Every so often, my iPhone 3GS won't delete some photos after importing into iPhoto and choosing "delete originals." It deletes most of the originals but strangely keeps a certain number around. My basic routine is to "Import All" and then "Delete Originals." This works 98% of the time, but sometimes the iPhone just gets hung up and won't delete the originals until I manually do it from the iPhone itself.

I was looking further into this and I found out that on my Macbook Pro's System Preferences. In the iCloud settings, the "Photos" setting was checked and in the Options next to that, the "My Photo Stream" and "Photo Sharing" was also checked.
I think this was the main problem. After I used iTunes to sync with the photos maybe there was some cache settings or something residual left on the iPhone which let to it being continuously restoring.
This is the fix which I used. It is fine now.
Check in System Preferences for - iCloud >> Photos is unchecked.
Check in System Preferences for - iCloud >> Photos >> Options >> "My Photo Stream" and "Photo Sharing" is unchecked.
Temporarily delete account for iCloud settings on iOS device - Settings >> iCloud (This didn't affect my main iCloud account only deleted my information on the device)
Re-sync iOS device with iTunes.
Set up your iCloud account on iOS device again.
Hope this helps for anyone having this problem.

Lion corrupting EXIF information when importing into iPhoto '09?

Hello,
I use DXO to process my RAW images and get them into iPhoto '09.
Since the upgrade from Snow Leopard, my JPG pictures that had perfectly valid EXIF headers before import into iPhoto
$ jhead <path_to_file_before_import>/IMG_0343_DxO.jpg
File name    : <path_to_file_before_import>/IMG_0343_DxO.jpg
File size    : 6900360 bytes
File date    : 2011:08:27 12:32:27
Camera make : Canon
Camera model : Canon EOS 600D
Date/Time    : 2011:08:14 12:58:24
Resolution   : 5184 x 3456
Flash used   : Yes (manual)
Focal length : 30.0mm (35mm equivalent: 47mm)
CCD width    : 22.99mm
Exposure time: 0.0050 s (1/200)
Aperture     : f/14.0
Focus dist. : 2.79m
ISO equiv.   : 400
Whitebalance : Auto
Metering Mode: matrix
end up with empty EXIF after the import:
$ jhead <path_to_file_after_import>/iPhoto\ Library/Originals/2011/100CANON/IMG_0343_DxO.jpg
File name    : /Users/Shared/iPhoto/iPhoto Library/Originals/2011/100CANON/IMG_0343_DxO.jpg
File size    : 6901712 bytes
File date    : 2011:08:27 18:30:39
Resolution   : 5184 x 3456
This was definitely not a problem with Snow Leopard (same iPhoto '09, I have not changed my workflow for years).
Looking at a picture I imported with Snow Leopard (different camera body, but I checked with both):
$ jhead <path_to_file_after_import>/iPhoto\ Library/Originals/2010/Oslo\ 17\ Mai/_MG_7938_DxO.jpg
File name    : /Users/Shared/iPhoto/iPhoto Library/Originals/2010/Oslo 17 Mai/_MG_7938_DxO.jpg
File size    : 10757229 bytes
File date    : 2010:05:24 15:59:41
Camera make : Canon
Camera model : Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT
Date/Time    : 2010:05:17 09:47:17
Resolution   : 3456 x 2304
Flash used   : No
Focal length : 300.0mm (35mm equivalent: 486mm)
CCD width    : 22.20mm
Exposure time: 0.0031 s (1/320)
Aperture     : f/8.0
ISO equiv.   : 200
Whitebalance : Auto
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure     : shutter priority (semi-auto)
Anybody noticing the same issue?

hi djiti,
DXO up to date,
Lion up to date,
iPhoto up to date (? I want to hear you say yes),
I am at a loss.
Some apps do not read the same info in the same place in the exif: iPhoto reads the "Creation Date" from "modification date" created in another app, for example; I use "A Better Attributes" app, to change the Exif in that case. But I have never seen that the Exif is "corrupted" by a photo app.
Lex (I use iPhoto, and Photoshop Lightroom, know about DxO and Aperture but only a little experience)

Importing into iPhoto, Pictures Have Red Tint

This has gotten progressively worse over time...
I have .NEF files that are created using a Nikon D90 camera in a folder. In the past these images would import successfully into iPhoto. By import, I do NOT create a second image inside the iPhoto library but simply have iPhoto create a link to the image in the folder.
Now all of the photos I have imported have a RED TINT to them. Here's what I have found:
1. When the .NEF is imported into iPhoto it has a RED TINT
2. When I go to the folder, and press the space bar to preview the file, the photo has a RED TINT.
3. When I go into Photoshop, the photo shows up in it's proper color.
What seems the be the problem here? This was not the case when I first began using iPhoto '11 with my .NEF files. Any thoughts?

Thanks for replying Lennart, but the problem I'm having is with still photos being imported from iPhoto, not video clips. There are no transitions or titles involved. I was simply importing some photos and planned to go back to add transitions.
I thought about it while at work today and realized that the photos I was trying to add to the timeline were 1) all scanned, and 2) possibly bitmap format. So I started playing with it again when I got home. Sure enough, the bitmap photos import with a red filter look, jpegs do not. To verify this premise even more I duplicated a bitmap photo and then converted it to jpeg. Sure enough, the red filter appears when I import the bitmap image but not on the jpeg.
Why? Beats me. Maybe some of the more technical folk have an explanation. Thankfully I don't have that many bitmap images and I will simply convert those that are.
One more note, out of curiosity I decided to try importing a still RAW photo to an iMovie. The image shows beautifully in iMovie but in the timeline in shows as a black frame. I wouldn't ordinarily import a RAW image, I was just curious.
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4) iLife '06

Importing into iPhoto 6 from Sony DSC-T1 crashes the application

Until I updated to iLife 06 I never had trouble importing photos into iPhoto from my Sony DSC-T1. Now, within seconds of clicking on the "import now" button the program crashes, and I've sent the obligitory bug report to Apple, but now the card is full and I don't know where to turn...
12 PB Mac OS X (10.4.6) iLife 06

Strange. Sorry to hear about your problems. Rather than importing via iPhoto directly from the camera, why don't you try getting the images off the card in the Finder? When you plug in the camera an icon for the memory card will appear on your desktop. Quit iPhoto if it automatically comes up. Create a folder on your desktop. Double click the memory card icon, and browse its contents until you find the image files. Drag them to the folder you created, and wait for the copy to complete. Then launch iPhoto and drag the folder of images into iPhoto.
Hopefully Apple support will be able to help you with that camera import into iPhoto. Is it on the iPhoto supported list?

Backup/Copied Photos won't be recognized or imported into iPhoto library

I recently backup all data to usb hard disk and do a fresh installation of 10.6, and I accidentally create a whole new account w/ different user name (and I don't know whether it might cause any of my problems).
After I copied all my data backup, everything is so OK except all my pictures (jpg files mostly) in ~/Pictures folder won't be recognizable either by quicklook, preview or iPhoto. Also all my 14G iPhoto Library won't work. The files are still here but it just become not recognizable, can not be opened or imported into iPhoto. It told me that "the file is in an unrecognized format", but how could a jpg format not recognized by a MAC?
I updated iLife & iPhoto to latest version, and rebooted my laptop, but nothing changed. I know there might be chances that my pictures got damaged during transferring from hard disk to usb disk, but isn't it too weird that as I drag all my documents, movies, music and pictures at the same time all other files remained unchanged yet ALL my photos (including iPhoto Library) just all of sudden crashed together at the same time?
I am exhausted and can not figure out any posible reason, and would be very appreciated that if someone might suggest any methods, maybe even a clue. plz, plz, plz.........
Message was edited by: Kelip

if I directly double click "iPhoto Library" (which has a plain text like icon preview, not so colorful iphoto library style...), it tells me I should choose the app I wanna open it. After iPhoto chosen and opened, nothing happened, no photos in iPhoto main windows (events, faces, ..., all empty).
I aslo try "show package contents" and locate the exact photos' location in "iPhoto Library", which I believed should be in "iPhoto Library/Original/", all the photos in there could not be quicklook, opened by preview, Photoshop, etc. And the error msg says something like "format unrecognized" stuffs
Message was edited by: Kelip

Took movie w/iPhone, imported into iPhoto, now iMovie not "seeing" the .mov

Hi,
I took a movie with my iPhone 3GS. During the sync process with my Mac, iPhoto imported the file as a .mov. In iPhoto, when I click on the .mov file, QuickTime opens and plays the movie just fine. In iMovie, however, when I click the little camera icon (to open up iPhoto and search for files), I cannot see the .mov file, even though I know it is there in iPhoto.
I have read a number of posts about this issue, and feel fairly lost at the moment. I'd appreciate any point in the right direction.
Thanks

That would be simple....
I am having a similar problem trying to find images I have imported into iPhoto not showing up in iMovie. I have tried the fixes they suggest in the iMovie help file: "iLife: Cannot See iPhoto Files in Other iLife Applications" and they do not help.
However, the images do not show up in iMovie even though the events and photos show up in iPhoto and other events and images... from earlier show up in iMovie. At least until March 22 08. I don't use iPhoto or iMovie very much as I don't have a Digital Camera or Cell Phone. I do have a project now that they would be perfect for and now...
The help file info didn't help... there is another more current thread as well about the photo issue rather than the iPhone movie... but I think it is the same issue to do with iMovie seeing imports made by iPhoto.
~ Darrell

File names changed when imported into iphoto

I scanned thousands of photos and slides. I named them numerically with year and order it was taken (example for 102nd photo taken in 1984 is 84.102.jpg) I used Photoshop's file info to add a description on maybe 20% of the photos. Unfortunately, when I imported into iphoto, iphoto uses this information for the photo's file name. Is there a way to import photos into iphoto where it uses only the original files name and not embedded file info?

The ones that (on the originals) I entered descriptive things into Photoshop's XMP file info's document title line -- well that is what is shown as the name of the file rather than its real numerical name. Example: on a photo saved as 92
iPhoto uses the Exif and IPTC metadata for the photo information. When you typed "Big Snowstorm" in there you put it in the Title field. iPhoto is showing you the Title of the photo. It only shows you the Filename if there is no entry in the Title field. Had you put it in the Caption field you would not have this problem.
Try remove the title, see if that works.
Another commend: This format of filename
92.133.jpg
Is potentially very dangerous. Computers use the period to distinguish the filename from the suffix that tells your machine what the type of file it is. Currently, you're telling your machine that this is file 92, of the type 133 and also the type jpeg. Characters such as periods, slashes, dashes should eb avoided in filenames. Sooner or later your file naming convention is going to cause you problems.
Regards
TD

Import into Iphoto Over a NAS Drive

This has me stumped (but keep in mind I'm an absolute newbie at this).
I have two Macs set up in my house, a Pro (running aperture) and a Macbook Pro (running Iphoto) both of which are the latest versions. I am also running the latest version of Lion on both machines.
Both the Iphoto Library and Aperture Library are referenced wherein all the photo images (jpeg and RAW) are stored on a NAS drive communicating over the AFP protocol.
I have a Canon EOS Rebel t2i and an Olympus Tough both of which have Eye.fi SD Cards both eye.fi cards are scheduled to transfer jpeg and RAW photos onto my NAS Drive into the photos directory into a sub-folder created by the eye.fi program (by the way, I also tried this withoug sub-directories and the same problem persists).
I have no problem manually importing images into Aperture (I know of Aperture Hotfolder, but it's just slow), however I would like to automatically import any photos transferred onto my NAS drive directly into the referenced Iphoto Library on the MacBook Pro (this is my wife's computer and she has no interest in switching no Aperture).
I created a very simple 'Folder Action' on the MacBook Pro which looks at the photo directory on the NAS Drive and then set the folder action to 'Import into Iphoto'. I actually had this work. In fact it worked so well it would actually update and import images into Iphoto if I altered them in Photoshop. It was beautiful.
However, it no longer works (and it stopped working prior to the Lion installation) and if I really really really try to make it work (by literally deleting the folder action and re-creating it), it only works occassionally and with very mixed results.
So I guess the question is ultimately this: is there an apple script/hot folder action/automator action that will take any photo added to the Photos directory of my NAS Drive and then automatically import the photos into iPhoto?
Again, forgive my newbie ignorance, if you have any followup questions, I will happily respond to get this working all the time.

Pete:
a quick perl script is all that is needed.
That may do it but I'd have a backup of both your source files and the library just in case it doesn't go as intended.
One way you could start over with a new library and keep the keywords, comments and titles as well as the events would be to run iPhoto Library Manager on the library as described in Tutorial #1. Then delete the current referenced library, create a new manage one and import the source files. That will give you the keywords, titles, comments and an event for each folder of the source files.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

I have a large number of photos imported into iPhoto with the dates wrong. How can I adjust multiple photos (with varying dates) to the same, correct, date?

I have a large number of photos imported into iPhoto with the dates wrong. How can I adjust multiple photos (with varying dates) to the same, correct, date?

If I understand you correctly, when you enter a date in the Adjust Date and Time window, the picture does not update with the date you enter. If that is the case then something is wrong with iPhoto or your perhaps your library.
How large a date change are you putting in? iPhoto currently has an issue with date changes beyond about 60 years at a time. If the difference between the current date on the image and the date you are entering is beyond that range that may explain why this is not working.
If that is not the case:
Remove the following to the trash and restart the computer and try again:
Home > Library > Caches > com.apple.iphoto
Home > Library > Preferences > com.apple.iPhoto (There may be more than one. Remove them all.)
---NOTE: to get to the "home > library" hold down option on the keyboard and click on "Go" > "Library" while in the Finder.
Let me know the results.

Problems importing into Iphoto 5

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